Part 6 - 'Devil On A Stick'
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Part 6 - 'Devil On A Stick' |
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We are getting quite low on gunpowder now; all the extra guns we have acquired do not help in this. Most of the guns we have acquired from the Juliana are bigger and better than ours, so we do some swapping of their guns with our old ones. We also have all of the Juliana's boats. Spike suggests we kill all four suspects in the blowing up of the Juliana, just to be sure. That way we can be sure we've got the perpetrator. We consider this. The four suspects have been examined for signs of blood and gunpowder. Three of them, Johnny, Arthur and Simon, all formerly of the Black Freighter, have traces of both about their persons. Then again, they have been in two major battles in the last couple of days so this is not too surprising. The last, a Spanish-speaking former African slave called Cain, has traces of blood only. He seems terrified, and indeed seems to have been very scared since we arrived. Perhaps justifiably! Just to be sure, six guards are posted outside our powder room. All of the powder is stored in it, and only Captain Raven and Mr Vaughn have keys. Once again, Captain Raven wonders why people from the Black Freighter would want to do this when we and they share the same goal. She feels that the only way to resolve the problem is to kill everyone we've taken on board as crew since we became cursed, leaving only members of the original (and trustworthy) crew to continue. The only problem with that is that they are now some thirty percent of the crew, and getting rid of them (over and above any moral considerations!) is that it would leave us seriously short-handed. Finbar wonders whether they hope to gain favour with God by thwarting our evil plans. Mr Vaughn objects to this, as he considers what we do not to be that evil. "But we're damned," Finbar points out. Those of us who were there remember Vandervecken mentioning that someone else became the favourite of the Devil when he lost his favour. We wonder whether this could be the Black Freighter and its crew. If so we definitely do not want them on board! Captain Raven says we should kill everyone on board who is not part of our original crew, regardless of the inconvenience. No-one objects to this too much. Mr Vaughn suggests we just clap them in irons for the time being. Captain Raven points out there could still be trouble with the Black Freighter crew. And she does not like the no-alibi people being free to wander the ship. Finbar points out that most of them have proved themselves in combat by now. Captain Raven wonders why they did what they did. Why did they help in the attack only to blow up our prize afterwards? We do not know. Mr Vaughn says it is unfair to kill all of the new crew members. "Then we should kill the four of them," says Captain Raven. Bert says he would still like to know why the Juliana was blown up. Everyone else would like to know this too, really. We decide to torture the four of them to find this out, then decide who to kill. Orders are given for the four alibi-free crew, all currently under guard, to be separated. Each of them is to be clapped in irons, then they'll be stripped and all of their equipment removed before they are tortured. We decide that Simon gets to be tortured first, then Arthur, then Johnny, then Cain. Stripped, Simon reveals a stabbing knife, a throat-slitting knife and a bit of cash, as well as his clothes and so on. He makes quite a fuss as this is done. He is left naked in chains and we move on to Arthur. He is similarly equipped, and left in a similar state. Then we move on to Johnny. To find that he is gone. His two guards are dead, and he seems to have slipped out of his manacles. Bert notices that there is quite a lot of flesh and blood on the manacles, as if Johnny pulled himself out of them regardless of the damage that it did. It must have hurt a lot. We instantly raise the alarm, and begin to search the ship. Captain Raven goes up on deck and directs the crew there to search the gear stored there. Mr Vaughn goes to the powder room and checks that everything is in order there. It is. Then he takes some crewmen into a boat and begins to go around the ship in the water, checking for anyone hanging on the side of the ship, and making sure no-one is sabotaging the rudder or anything else they could get to from there. He finds no-one. Bert takes another contingent of crew and begins searching the gun deck. An initial search shows that no-one is hiding there. That being so, they begin to search the gun deck inch by inch. Finbar takes some more of the crew down into the bilges to search them. He also has the whereabouts of the Black Freighter crew vouched for, just in case they were in on this. No-one is hiding in the bilges, but Finbar does find a small barrel hidden there. It has a stash of equipment inside it, including two pistols, powder and some knives. Spike goes up to the crews nest and surveys the deck and the water around the ship for anyone trying to escape. No-one seems to be swimming off, but he does see a shark in the water. Bert and Finbar have finished searching the gun deck and the bilges respectively, and are just coming back up on deck with their respective contingents of the crew when, looking down from the crows nest, Spike notices one of the sailors on the deck below is heading for Captain Raven in a way that seems to indicate hostile intent. At the same time, Captain Raven notices the same person moving up behind her in a hostile manner. She turns, pulling two pistols as she does so. The figure leaps in, faster than Captain Raven. Spike tries to bring his musket to bear, but the two close too fast, and there is too high a chance of hitting the captain for him to want to fire. Captain Raven fires, one pistol shot hitting the attacker in the side and knocking them a little way back. The two knives the attacker is wielding both miss her. Spike shoots from above, hitting the attacker. Seemingly little affected by this wounds, the attacker moves in again. Finbar charges the attacker with the barrel as a battering ram. Bert pulls a knife and throws it, embedding it in the attackers leg. Again, it seems to have little effect. They leap in again. Captain Raven pulls another two pistols, but the attacker is too close for them to come to bear. She dodges, and takes a nasty cut on the arm. Then Finbar charges in and slams the attacker against the main mast with his barrel. There is a cracking of bone, but they carry on. Captain Raven moves back into the mass of crew, using them as cover. Bert moves in, and throws a knife into the attackers' throat. They pull it out and throw it back at him, slicing his arm. They do not fall down and die as they should. Bert doesn't like this. He sees the throat wound close in less than a second. With a wriggle, the attacker gets free and leaps quickly across the deck and through the massed crew back to Captain Raven, slashing her across the ribs with a knife. Spike shoots down from the crows' nest as the attacker leaps for the Captain, but misses. Finbar grapples them, throwing them to the deck, and begins to get a good grip. However, although small, the attacker is as strong as he is. Bert moves in and draws his cutlass, wanting to chop off the attackers' head. Mr Vaughn slams the attacker in the head with his grappling hook, to little effect. Bert tries to behead the attacker, but just slashes their neck instead. This heals quickly. Captain Raven has also drawn her cutlass, and is ready to attack. When the attacker throws a hand out, she slashes down at it, and cut the hand off. Then she grabs the knife from it and impales the hand on her cutlass, just in case. This proves justified, as the hand continues to move even though detached. Finbar has a fairly good grip on the attacker now. Bert takes advantage of this to try to behead them again. This time he gets a much better angle and cleanly beheads them. Their head flies off across the deck with the drew leaping out of its way, but the body it was attached to keeps moving, and fighting! However, taking advantage of the distraction provided by the beheading, Finbar grabs the body solidly. Mr Vaughn throws the rope of his grappling hook over a spar, then impales the attackers still-moving body through one knee. With that done he hoists the body up, suspending it by the knee in mid-air where it cannot fight. Bert and Finbar begin to dismember it. Mr Vaughn begins to freak out somewhat. Not unreasonably! The detached bits of body are not bleeding, but nor are they re-growing, from either side of where they were severed. Mr Vaughn treats the various injuries inflicted during the fight. Then he goes back to freaking out. Finbar takes the head and cuts out the eyes. The head looks very unhappy at this. They re-grow. He pulls them out and lets them hang on the optic nerves. They shloop back in. He repeats this, then holds them out on needles. Ouch. They pull through the needles and go back in anyway. As Bert continues dismembering Johnny, he quickly finds that he is in fact a she! We had not noticed this before, and are a bit confused as to whether Johnny has always been a woman in disguise, or has turned into one for some reason. We eventually conclude that it must have been the former. We try burning parts of Johnny in a brazier, but they seem to heal faster than they burn. Not letting this distract us, we have two barrels brought up on deck. 'Johnny's limbs are packed into one, her torso into the other, and her head stuck on a pike. Finbar helps with this. He suggests we fill them with vinegar as a torture, but given Johnny's regenerative powers with respect to fire, we think this will not work. It is suggested that we get a Bishop, urgently, to exorcise Johnny. And the ship. And do the Blessing of St Bruno. Johnny's presence is certainly corroboration of our need for spiritual help should any be required! Mr Vaughn fetches a bell, candle and bible, and rocks over them. Rum is served to everyone, to calm the nerves of the crew, and ourselves. With everyone's nerves suitably fortified, Captain Raven talks to the head. Johnny claims to be the Devil. She wants us damned forever, not saved with the help of the Blessing of St Bruno. We are not sure of the reaction of the Church to all of this. Finbar suggests we bury all of the bits of Johnny in consecrated ground. Not the monastery - we think that has been quite thoroughly de-consecrated by what has happened here. However, Bert thinks the Devil Can go into church. It is suggested that Johnny's head is attached to the figurehead. We wonder whether we can make a deal with the Devil. She claims to be able to lift her own curse. If the price is right. We are not entirely in favour of this. Finbar is much more in favour of living a sinful life, then getting into heaven anyway by way of a deathbed confession. The rest of us are less sure. The general opinion is that we should not get a priest to help us to the moment. Finbar says we should not do so in Havana anyway. Captain Raven says it should be the priest of a small, isolated, settlement. Finbar suggests Santiago de Cuba, on Cuba or Hispaniola. With the latter, someone wonders about possibilities or problems with Voodoo. This is unanimously rejected! We decide that the Bishop of Santiago de Cuba is the person we want. Finbar suggests we pretend to be merchants attacked by the Black Freighter. Captain Raven is more in favour of abducting the Bishop to avoid problems with the authorities. In fact, she is of the opinion that we need a resident priest of board. Not an unreasonable idea, under the circumstances! She further suggests that there are two possible courses of action, upon which we should vote. They are:
After some discussion, everyone chooses the second option. Captain Raven gives the order for the Black Mamba to sail to one of the small islands off the north of Cuba where we will hide while repairs are made and the ship disguised. The two barrels with the parts of Johnny are placed at opposite ends of the ship, and guarded. Bert still thinks we need to get rid of the Black Freighter's crew, and Captain Raven agrees. We've made enough of a deal with the Devil as it is, without keeping them on board. However, we do need them to keep up the numbers of the crew! We also worry about whether the Devil could 'jump' out of Johnny's body and into someone else's. Spike suggests we just leave the body here. "Or elsewhere," says Captain Raven. Spike suggests we drop bits off it into the sea as we sail along. "What do you want to not be cursed?" asks the head on the pike, in a whispering voice. We all want to go back to how things were before this, only not cursed! "I can give you that," whispers the Devil. "But I would ask you to do jobs for me, from time to time." "We don't want any open-ended contracts," states Captain Raven. "We want the curse lifted," says Bert. We wonder if we could just reassemble Johnny and drop the body off somewhere in return for the curse being lifted. Bert objects to this, and reiterates that we just want the curse lifted. "You'll just have to trust me," whispers the Devil. We are all more than a little sceptical of this! We do wonder why the Devil is against us if we are already damned by what we have done with our lives... The Devil offers us money, power, women and so on. We reject them all - we just want the curse lifted, and can get the other things ourselves if we want. Captain Raven volunteers to keep the head in her cabin so that it does not have a chance to tempt the crew. Finbar suggests we silence it. Perhaps we could gag it with a shot bound with chain, in a barrel, filled with sand, and sealed. We like this idea, but then we won't know if the Devil leaves Johnny. So no. Captain Raven decides that Johnny's head will be kept on the pike, but gagged. That being decided, we sail off. Bert plots a course to a perfect island that he knows north of Cuba. Six trusted crew members under the command of Midshipman Xavier Bidet, one of Bert's understudies, are left behind at Nuevitas to keep watch for the galleon bearing the Cross of St Benedict. They also have the cannon we no longer need, a mixture of those from the Juliana and the old ones from the Black Mamba, along with some powder and shot. They are left a sea-worthy sailing cutter from the Juliana and the course to our haven in case of need. Our former suspects are given back their stuff and are put back to work. They are suitably grateful. And we sail off to Bert's Haven. A week after arriving at Bert's Haven, Finbar and his assistants have fully repaired the Black Mamba. The Devil is still there, and there has been no message from Midshipman Bidet. Mr Vaughn has been spending his time forging letters from Captain de Alvarez to the daughter of the Governor of Havana. This is not his strong suit, although we do have examples of his handwriting. At our suggestion, Captain Raven also select a gift from our loot for her, 'something girlie', and finds something she thinks is appropriate. Finbar points out that we will need to reconnoitre Havana before we do anything, and find somewhere for her to meet the Captain. We make a deal with Diego - if he helps us with this, he can go free. He considers this. Once the repairs are completed, we return to Nuevitas to check on Midshipman Bidet and the other five crewmen. They are fine. Everything there seems to be all right, though there is no sign of the galleon. We tell them we will be back in a week if everything goes to plan. If we are not back in two weeks they are to fend for themselves. To help with this, we give them part of their share of the treasure we have taken since they were paid last. And we sail off for Havana... |